An Interview

After finishing the test he said some administrative things to me and then led me to a waiting area, saying that I would be called upon when they have finalised my results.

I entered the waiting room and sat down.

I was the only one in the waiting room so I might've been the first to finish, however I could already hear the echoed voices of the two girls in my group getting closer so they must've not been far behind.

“I think I did alright, especially considering I can barely use the power. All I can do is move a little faster”

“Oh I’m the same as well. Oh and I didn’t even see those bad guys until the last second. I just froze up!”

The girls entered the waiting room, voices no longer muffled by the separating wall. They both were on the prettier side of the spectrum where one had long, light brown hair and other with short, dark brown hair.

Giving me a brief glance, the girls continued their conversation a few seats away from me.

A second later a boy entered who must've been walking right behind them. He was the one who I thought had an intense aura earlier.

“Hey, hey how did you find it? The psychic test.” The long haired girl directed her question at the boy.

He pushed up his glasses and shrugged.

“I achieved a competent score. My grades alone are pretty much enough to get me into the psychic school I want anyway, so I can’t say I care about my psychic test.”

He gave his answer without a hint of modesty but I suppose it is a skill in life to be able to do so with confidence.

He sat down and crossed his arms.

“Wow, that's impressive! But surely if you didn’t care about using the psychic powers, wouldn’t you want to go to a different school? Especially if your grades are that good.”

She was asking out of genuine curiosity, seemingly quite friendly.

“At the psychic school I’m going to, the opportunities are better.” He answered bluntly but then went on to expand on his point further.

“They do more than just teach psychic powers and the traditional subjects you know? One of their main advertisements is that it teaches you what they call life skills. Skills that would help you integrate into any business”

“Wow, that sounds great, I hadn’t heard about that. Is that the one closest to here?”

Ignoring his ‘know it all’ attitude, she stayed positive and asked a follow up question.

“...Yes”

Exasperated, he gave an answer.

The room went silent after that as she was seemingly not able to carry on the conversation after that.

From his attitude, it came across that glasses was looking down on her for whatever reason. Maybe it was because she didn’t know the school well but an attitude like that gave me a rare spark of annoyance.

Come to think of it though, that was the second time someone had mentioned that school today. So they don’t just focus just on psychic powers but also these ‘life skills’ that glasses mentioned. I have to admit it did peak my interest a little.

“What about you? How did you find it?”

The friendly, long haired girl had suddenly turned and set her sights on me.

Then they all turned and looked at me which caught me off guard a bit as I was deep in thought.

Clearing my throat I answered.

“I did so so I guess , my written scores were pretty good I think.”

She responded with a polite smile, nodding approvingly to my bland answer.

After another second she then asked another question.

“How was your psychic test, are you thinking about going to a psychic school?”

With now an inkling of what my plan was I could answer somewhat resolutely.

“Well I think I might aim for that psychic school that you guys were talking about, my test was pretty borderline though, so I’m not sure.”

“Hmph”

Glasses made a noise attracting the attention of the group.

“You can’t just waltz into it you know? It’s the top school in this area so it obviously has high standards.”

He gave his opinion on my choice of school. Nothing he said was false as imagine you would need good grades in both psychic and normal tests to get in.

“Well I wouldn’t worry too much if you can’t get in. I just took this test to see where I’m at, I know I have no chance of getting into a psychic school”

The girl who hadn’t spoken so far, interjected with her own outlook.

There are many people who have a low psychic aptitude and can just do the bare minimum so the psychic schools weren’t for everyone. With people like her taking the test it would explain why there were easier routes to take during the psychic test as well.

“Daniel Green, please go to room 5 for your results and final interview“

A voice through the speakers echoed through the waiting room.

“Well that's me, good luck everyone.”

“You too!”

Both girls replied in unison and gave me a bright smile. I left the room feeling ready to take on anything.

It was a short way to room 5 with no more long hallways.

The door was open and I could see the same invigilator who assessed my psychic ability. Unlike before he was now wearing a pair of reading glasses as he sat at his desk scrutinising whatever was on his computer rather comically.

Despite it being open I knocked on it to be polite.

“Yes, yes come in. Please take a seat.”

Just like before he greeted me with a smile and I felt another wave of mild guilt for making a surface judgment of him before.

“Let’s get right into it shall we , but before I give you your results I’m just going to ask you some questions ok? But don’t worry I’m not gonna try and catch you out or anything, it’s purely just to get to know you better. Sounds alright?

“Yep, that’s sounds fine“

I knew this was part of the assessment so I felt quite prepared. My plan for questions that I didn’t have a good answer for was to…. not flat out lie but to very much spruce up basic truths about my experiences into elaborate lies.

“Okay, well the first thing I’d like to ask is what is it that you do for fun? Like if you have any hobbies.”

This was an example of a question that I didn’t have a good answer for. I feel as though they might look for an answer that demonstrates that I’m active outside of my ‘school activities’ but to be honest I wasn’t.

There was no flowery way of answering this so I spoke sincerely.

“Well, I spend time working on my psychic abilities”

He was silent for a second as he wasn’t expecting such a short answer. After realising I had finished talking he spoke.

“Anything else? Spend any time on the internet or tv? Or maybe with friends?”

“Ah, well I do enjoy just reading things on the internet I guess. I’ve been reading a lot random things recently”

He led me to answer that I wasn’t sure was relevant but it seemed any way I consume my time was appropriate.

“Oh? Anything interesting?”

After that we chatted for about 5 minutes. I didn't know a conversation could feel so natural. To be honest I felt like I could be friends with Dave honestly.

Eventually we got back to business with his face getting a little more serious.

“So… what plans have you got for the future? Anything you want to be? Of course not very many people know that, but is there any inkling of what it might be?

To be honest the goal in my head had been to just integrate into society and to do that was to get into a school, and then get a job. My thoughts have never gone beyond that. Again though I knew a question like this would pop up so I could give a truth mixed in with a lie.

“I quite enjoy improving my psychic powers and I’ve got a knack for using them so I’d like to go into a profession where I use them often.”

Jobs like that could be a psychic role in law enforcement or the military to name a couple but the only truth in that statement was that I had a knack with the psychic powers.

“Okay that sounds good. So you’d want to be going into a psychic school for that would you? Did you think you did well enough for whatever school that would be?”

“Well I would hope so. I’d like to go to the top school that’s close to here but I’m not too sure if I did well enough.

Upon hearing my choice of education he had an expression of which I couldn’t read. It wasn’t very positive though.

Maybe I didn’t do well enough after all.

After a couple seconds of silence from him I spoke again, troubled by the mood.

“Did I not do well enough?”

I’m quite confident in my psychic aptitude and I don’t think I put a foot wrong in the written test so I couldn’t help but be confused.

Realising he was putting a downer on the mood he lit up again.

“Oh, no sorry! You did great in both tests. You actually got every question in the written test right and answered the psychometric portion excellent as well. As for the psychic test you scored a time of 54 seconds with no penalties, scoring in the 95% percentile and demonstrated great confidence in the fundamental psychic abilities. Heck, you even used a psychic beam, not many people use the beam in the test, and next to no one adapts it from the original form. Very impressive stuff Daniel.”

Contrary to what his expression was saying a moment ago, it seemed I had done very well. He even praised me for splitting my psychic beam into three but it does surprise me to find out that no one would use an adapted form of the psychic beam at any point in the test at all. I guess it wasn’t nearly as common as I thought.

With all his praise though I feel as though a big but was coming.

“But...”

There it was.

“It’s just… you say you're aiming for the top school right?”

Was he going to say I didn’t meet their standards? I nodded to usher him on.

“Well it’s not that you won’t be able to get in, I think with your capabilities you’d fit in well. It’s just that… how do I put it…”

He pondered for a second and as if living his memories. With a distant stare he spoke.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time you see, and I’ve sent recommendations for people with your scores before to that school many times. And I can tell you the one thing that pretty much all of them had in common was their drive during the test, there’s no other way to word it, it’s just something I can sense.

He brought his gaze to me, making eye contact.

“But when I was watching you, I didn’t sense anything. I’m not sure I’d say you were holding back but rather that you would've been fine with whatever score you got. When other people with your aspirations are taking the test they perform like their life is on the line. Not to mention it’s a very competitive school as well and you’d be working harder than you would at any other school. I just think it would be within your best interest to think hard on your decision”

I was a bit taken aback and he also seemed to realise that he might’ve spoken a bit too much so he backtracked a little

“Well either way, you don’t have to listen to an old man ramble. I'm sure you’ll do fine if that's what you decide, after all you know yourself better than I do.”

“No, thank you for letting me know.”

Before today I might’ve taken his advice but although I will admit that my desire was mild, I wanted to go to the school now after hearing about it on a few occasions.

“Well that’s about everything, oh and as you are homeschooled as well I would think they’ll give you one more written test as well, one that focuses more on your fundamental knowledge.”

Another test huh…

“Alright”

He got up and stretched his hand with the intention of shaking mine.

I stood up as well and shook it at which point he spoke again.

“Your scores will be on your profile with my signature on it so you can now apply for the schools you want with it. Unless you have questions, I’ll wish you good luck.”

I shook my head

“Ok, I’ll see you then”

He gave me another smile one more time and waved me off.

“Thank you for your time. I’ll see you.”

I turned to leave.

“Oh, there is one more thing”

With my right hand already on the door he said that. I turned and waited for him to speak.

“Next time you have an interview, make sure to get a haircut.”

I pinched my hair and realised it had grown quite long.

“Oh, yes. Thank you.“

I walked out.

My hair hadn’t been cut for a few months so I guess it was looking a bit unkempt at this moment in time. Apparently it was bad enough to be pointed out by this very friendly old man with good intentions. I was aware that you need to be looking smart for an interview but to be honest having my haircut for it had slipped my mind. I added it to my very short to-do list and left the building with all of my thoughts now filled with all the preparations I would need for my new school.